Friday, March 24, 2017

When will we who purport to be on the Right RECOGNIZE, fully ACKNOWLEDGE and DEAL EFFECTIVELY WITH the profound SCHISM that occurred long ago in the GOP?

The GOP is not ONE party at all.

It is at least THREE –– i.e.

1. The RINO SELLOUTS.

2. The MOUSEY, MAUNDERING, MODERATES

3. The CONSERVATIVE-LIBERTARIANSrepresenting the ideals of the Founders expressed in the Constitution, espoused by the TEA PARTY, and best represented by the FREEDOM CAUCUS in the House of Representatives?

There IS no GOP –– only a fractious, fractured assemblage of nincompops at war with President Trump and with each other.

The public elected Mr. TRUMP, who is decidedly a maverick, in the hope that his larger-than-life personality and booming show of self-confidence might be able to overcome the VILE status quo.

I for one believe it to be foolish to abandon that hope.The defeat of PaulRyan's LOUSY bill means we have really dodged a bullet.

Had that stupid, ill-conceived bill gone through, we would have lost ALL HOPE of EVER ridding ourselves of the CURSE of OBAMACARE.

It is PAUL RYAN –– and all he represents –– of whom we need to rid ourselves now.

Paul Ryan is obviously all too eager to play Mark Antony

to Donald Trump's Julius Caesar.

~ § ~

SIGNS of the TIMES that

TRY MEN'S SOULS

We Supplied the Pictures, Now Let's See YOU Supply Appropriate Commentary

104 comments:

I read some of the Time cover story (it's a long interview), and a couple of other relates peices in there, and I can see why the cover, an homage to the famous/infamous cover in 1966 asking "Is God Dead?"

Added with those political cartoons it takes on a different way of looking at the same thing - pervasive ignorance among the public and liars who take advantage of it.

The Republicans made a political bogeyman of Obamacare, stood in its way and undermined it every way they could, placed responsibility for serious problems that long predated the act upon it, all the while most all the bad parts of Obamacare - the mandate, the workweek, no public option, no negotiating prices - were all conservative ideas in the first place.

They lied. Now, after all those nonsensically passed "repeal" bills, dozens and dozens, they are frightened to repeal it, and have not one single better idea. All those years to come up with something, anything, to get Americans better healthcare care than our low-average outcomes, to get something at least a little less than one-and-a-half to double what the rest of the world pays, and they have nothing. They have even stooped to suggesting just letting the ACA fail, but again they lie, as industry experts confirm the ACA would remain just fine, let alone if the GOP states played along better and stopped undermining it.

All they have is a bill that won't it make through the Senate, and that's if it can even pass in the House, with the arbitrarily named "Freedom Caucus" (may as well be the "Giant Squid Aficionado Caucus") standing firmly against doing anything about Americans healthcare to start with.

Truth is not dead. It just needs a shaking once in a while to get people to see it. We're getting shook now, alright. Shook down. Look for big changes in the future.

JMJ,The Republicans made a political bogeyman of Obamacare....Now, after all those nonsensically passed "repeal" bills, dozens and dozens, they are frightened to repeal it, and have not one single better idea.

Agreed! "Repeal and replace" sounds great, especially to those with high premiums and exorbitant deductibles. But the reality of repealing and replacing is far more complicated that the sound byte.

the mandate, the workweek, no public option, no negotiating prices - were all conservative ideas in the first place

Really? Wasn't the ACA created without GOP input?

the ACA would remain just fine, let alone if the GOP states played along better and stopped undermining it

Again I ask, "Really?"

How can the ACA be just fine if insureds have deductibles so high that they can, in essence, not afford to go to the doctor?

As someone said (paraphrase of what who-knows-who recently said), "Having an insurance card doesn't mean that you can afford to go to the doctor?"

My friend TMW, a retired CNA who has been living here and helping Mr. AOW and me since October 25, has subsidized ObamaCare (Silver Plan). Her policy is good only in her home state of Florida (except for a medical emergency), and her deductible is $1400. She is a widow living on a fixed income and doesn't have the $1400.

I hope that you will address the questions and concerns posted in this comment.

It stems from the erroneouss belief that "The Rich" are comfortable, and prosper ONLY because they have selfishly and callously EXPLOITED the less fortunate. Therefore it only stands to reason that "The Rich" must be FORCED to "give back" something they never "took" in the first place!

Now, that might be fine for SUPER-RICH people like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, George Soros, the Kennedys, the Rockefellers, and the Oil Sheiks [who reaily DO exploit THEIR people in ways unconscionable to Civilized people in the odern world], but the Oil Sheiks are not OUR problem when it comes to providing adequate medical care to the millions.

But I digress .

Obamacare really HAS helped a great many very poor people to get medical insurance for the first time in their lives. BUT they can get it ONLY BECAUSE they receive heavy SUBSIDIES from the U.S. Treasury.

THOSE peope have found their premiums increasing HUGELY, –– some more than 100%! –– while their ACCESS to medical care has been greatly REDUCED, because extremely HIGH DEDUCTIBLES have been FORCED on them along with the enormous INCREASE in PREMIUMS –– to say nothing of the cost of prescription drugs.

To say this isn't "fair," must be the Understatement of the Century.

There is a basic principle that Obamacare violates with relish, glee and reckless abandon: It HELPS one sector of society to the DETRIMENT of another. The truly rich can well afford not to care, but the vast majority of those who work for a living at decent wages are being imposed upon –– SQUEEZED –– to the point where if this is allowed to continue much longer, the Wage Earners and Modestly Prosperous members of the Investor Class will have the LIFE pressed out of them.

As Mrs.Thatcher so famously said, "The only trouble with Socialism is that sooner or later you rRUN OUT of OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY."

"the mandate, the workweek, no public option, no negotiating prices - were all conservative ideas in the first place

Really? Wasn't the ACA created without GOP input?""

It was essentially Romneycare. You're making the logical error of assuming that just because the GOP voted against it and turned it into a Bogeyman, that conservatism had no effect on it. It was the Heritage Foundation who first proposed the mandate. It was Medicare Part D that first imposed the no-negotiation rule, a GOP determination that Big Pharma made sure continued with Obamacare. It was the most conservative Democrats, like Joe Leiberman (CT is Big Pharma country), who demanded by threat of filibuster there be no public option. It goes on.

"the ACA would remain just fine..."

Again I ask, "Really?""

Well, according the the American Academy of Actuaries, Obamacare is NOT in a "Death Spiral." And remember the Aetna story about them backing out of the exchanges? Well, that was a blackmail they made to the justice department if they weren't allowed to merge with Humana. They weren't, so they made good on their threat.

I live in FL too, but remember, FL didn't take the medicaid expansion, and they were openly hostile to the exchanges, and it's one of those states with very few options in the private market (FL is an old "Blue Cross State"). So, sure enough, premiums skyrocketed in like the 3rd year out of nowhere ("nowhere" being an ELECTION YEAR, of course). My premiums with the ACA two years ago would have been 135 a month (but I had company "insurance" then, which costed more and offered less but was a decision I had to make due to some unfortunate timing and luck). So, the next year, I dropped that to try again with the exchanges, but they had jumped to well over 700 last year even for the cheapest. Priced me right out. So, I went into last year with no insurance, and sure enough, I get cancer! Yeah! The good news? I was far better off without my company's coverage or even the cheapest exchange plan, as the deductibles would have immediately impoverished my wife and I. I was actually better off losing my job (as I did), losing all my income (as I did) than I was being insured in the first place! The ENTIRE SYSTEM is broken. Obamacare did NOT cause that.

FT,

I understand the Robin Hood argument, but when it comes to the concept of health insurance (how to pay for unforeseen), just like the military or the police, it's something you never know if you're going to need, how much it will cost, what it will be, etc. So we have these things to insure us against the unforeseeable, but quite inevitable aspects of life. All insurance, by definition, is a socialistic endeavor. If everyone was paying in, however, then the risks would be as spread as possible, and the costs would be much lower, as in every other developed country on the planet. There are times for socialism and their are times for government getting out of the way. I would suggest things we all truly need, like health care, the police, the military, the roads and bridges, etc, should be in the realm of the socialistic. Most other things, no. I have a serious moral issue with private health insurance, too. It's profiting from the misery of others. I don't care for that. I think it is a morally corrupting force.

Also, FT, talk about Robin Hood - I did have a good job with good income and high taxes and good insurance that I paid a fortune for, for many years. I was healthy then, so they made a fortune from me, and all I got was "insured." So, Lord knows how many people's care I paid for, but when I needed it? Well, that was then, right? The Private Insurance system is just Robin Hood keeping 30% for himself!

JMJ,We're going to find out if ObamaCare will hold up or not. The ACHA bill was just pulled -- not enough votes.

well over 700 last year even for the cheapest... I was actually better off losing my job (as I did), losing all my income (as I did) than I was being insured in the first place!

Horrendous! But you did pay into the system for a long time, so you're not one of those people who waited to get sick before trying to get health insurance. For whatever that statement of mine is worth.

CANCER! I so sorry.

Mr. AOW and I have also fought our battles with health insurance. Fortunately, we were always able to pay the high deductibles -- mainly because our illnesses didn't strike us until we were in our 60s. But that period of time between Mr. AOW's stroke in 2009 and, many months later, at last qualifying for Medicare. Only for me to have two health crises and another round of high deductible for me. We're both on Medicare now, which is a financial blessing for us.

My reciting of this household's battles with healthcare is trivial compared to what you're going through. CANCER! Again, I'm so sorry. I hope that you are getting treatment that can help you.

JMJ,Forgot to say....I recall that Heritage did, quite a long time ago, endorse the personal mandate. My conservative friends criticize me when I say, as I've said for many, many years, "I see no way for health insurance to work without an individual mandate." Insurance operates on the principle of having more low risk insureds than high risk insureds in the pool of insureds. I see no way around that principle.

I was always against the mandate. I do not think it was constitutional either, and I disagreed with Roberts on the matter. He set a terrible precedent for abuse of the powers of the purse. As far as I can see it, the only way to impose a constitutional mandate would be to simple give them the insurance. You don't want to buy insurance? You automatically are enrolled in Medicaid. No "public option." You're simply now de facto Medicaid. That would work much better. It would force the expansion of Medicaid, and the government is so bad and incompetent compared to the private sector? Well, we'll let the market sort that out, right? ;)

Oh, and AOW, thank you for your kind thoughts (I didn't see the comments above the last). I'm fine and all will be okay. But I'm lucky. I have an excellent support system with my family and friends and very minimalistic lifestyle, with little debt, in the first place. But if I had more to lose, I'd have lost it, and if I didn't have those family and friends, I'd be hellishly screwed. I worry about all those people!

That's the thing, AOW, Medicaid (and Medicare) have FAR LOWER overhead and no profiting, so the tax would be FAR LOWER than purchasing insurance of the same quality on the private market. Given the choice, Americans would quickly realize that private health insurance is just an unnecessary profiteering scheme, and soon enough, we'd be rid of it. ;)

FT, I've been listening to Donald Trump for like 30 years now, especially the twenty of those in the NYC area where he was a regular celebrity who did all the rounds on all the local radio and TV shows. He was on with Howard Stern on K-ROCK all the time, and for rock guys like me, that was our main station in NY.

I don't need "the media" to explain Donald Trump to me. He's a character, a nice enough guy in many ways, but the thought of him as President is of the United States is just surreal. At this point, I'm worried about him. I worry he may be the first President to shoot himself in office (Stern has the same concern, and he's known Trump very well for decades) - that's how worried I am about him. He's aging faster than any President I've ever seen. He's only been in office a couple of months, and he looks two or three years in already. He was always a self-aggrandizer, always a tall-tale-teller, always 'knew this guy' or 'was there' or had some opinion on everything, and if he was all wrong and upside down, he'd just rewrite his words and make himself right again. He's supremely vain. Vanity and lying have a well-known correlation.

This isn't new. This isn't something I've been told about him. I'd have told you the same thing about Donald Trump 25-30 years ago.

He's also, and c'mon, it's obvious, not very well-read or well-rounded at all. He's been in his own bubble his whole life. He has a unique story, but it's not a story of him learning very much about the world around him, but more a set of very specific endeavors in very specific fields, with a very specific cast of characters. And in his business dealings, he's often come off as not the most honest man around, to put it nicely.

He has a narrow and tenuous grasp of reality beyond the spectrum of crass marketing and entertainment, and real estate. He's always said is favorite paper was the NY Post. I mean, c'mon. I like to read the Post a little too, but, other than the wonderful sports section it's always had, I don't take it too seriously!

The Big Lie was President Trump himself. If he hopes to turn things around, if he has any hope of being a loved and successful President, he has to abandon all the dumb lies, the crazy promises, the pandering to the lowest common denominator, and use his limited skills to develop this country and get us growing strong again. If he continues to rely on what the Post thinks, he's may well be the first President to off himself in office. I wish him well.

Truth never dies. The ages come and go. The mountains wear away, the stars retire.Destruction lays earth’s mighty cities low; And empires, states and dynasties expire;But caught and handed onward by the wise, Truth never dies.

Though unreceived and scoffed at through the years; Though made the butt of ridicule and jest;Though held aloft for mockery and jeers, Denied by those of transient power possessed,Insulted by the insolence of lies, Truth never dies.

It answers not. It does not take offense, But with a mighty silence bides its time;As some great cliff that braves the elements And lifts through all the storms its head sublime,It ever stands, uplifted by the wise; And never dies.

As rests the Sphinx amid Egyptian sands; As looms on high the snowy peak and crest;As firm and patient as Gibraltar stands, So truth, unwearied, waits the era blessedWhen men shall turn to it with great surprise. Truth never dies.

As the people of London want to simply get on with their lives, and the families of the 5 dead victims and the 45 or so who were from being mowed down by a crazy person in a vehicle killing machine. And the police officer who was stabbed and killed just a few feet from Parliament, by a member, or members of that religion of peace who killed and seriously injered innocent all those innocent people in London...

This was another warning to those leftist , bleeding hearts, and tolerant people to wake the hell up and realize that people are the enemy. They hate you and want to punish you for being who and what you are.

And you liberals, and the people who you want to elect to lead you can't wait to import tens of thousands more of these violent, inbred, disease ridden, animals to infest your city, and to murder us while we are minding our own business and simply trying to live our lives. .

And don't you dare, for the love of God, tell me about the lovely Muslim old man that sells you your morning donut an coffee, who wouldn't hurt a fly, because I may lose it entirely and smack you upside the head. Because this kind of thing is happening to innocent people everywhere, everyday to all sorts of people. Germany is now destroyed, ditto for Sweden, France and probably most if not all of the other EU countries.

Haven’t we heard these stories many times before? Didn't we already fight this battle? We were warned, and warned and warned that this would happen, but some people are too arrogant and deaf to deal with the truth.They ould rather March and Protest Trump, the same Trump that wants to deal with this problem, not to worsen it like Hillary wanted to. Like it or not , between the Crazy Islamic Radicals and the Crazy Fat Freak in North Korea, we're in deep do do..

The main function of our government, and of every government in every civilized country is to keep the citizen's safe. Instead, we have or (HAD) a federal government that has spent the past eight years arguing about what Bathroom people should be allowed to go and pee or to poop, or to spend months and maybe years to decide whether or not or how to suing a citizen for not making flower arrangements or baking a cake at a wedding.

All this crap has been going on so that these blood sucking politicians and Lawyers can get every last dollar they can lay their rotten hands on.

For those of you in America who are worried about and in love with "diversity" you need to understand this is not diversity, bringing in tens of thousands of un-vetted people who we don’t know beans about from these KNOWN Terrorist Nations is not only Insane, but it's an invasion that will only become the downfall of our country.And one day, one of these dirt people may choose to do to your neighborhood exactly what these dirtbags did to London on Wednesday.

Did you listen to the grilling that hear some of the crap that was being performed by Al Franken at the Neil Gorsuch confirmation hearings yesterday?You would have thought that Al Franken was the Prosecutor on a murder case against Charles Manson. For example Al Franken told Judge…“Your Constitution isn’t MY Constitution!”Well, I guess that Nut Job Franken was right, there are two different Constitutions.... Gorsuch’s Constitution is the one written by our nation’s Founders , and Franken’s Constitution is the one meant for the Communist Parties.It has been an uphill battle fighting these lowlife racists, bigots and communists, all of whom want to remove the rock from where they have been for the past 8 years , and rise to the foundation on which America was built.Gorsuch is a very good choice, and finally, and thanks to President Trump's pick for the Supreme Court, there may be some light at the end of the tunnel.

Yes, yes. yes! All Conservative-Libertarians know Al Franken is an asshole, so why belabor the point? Al Franken is a WASTE of good oxygen. Always has been, probably always will be, so what? Just be glad he is not YOUR senator, as I rejoice he is not mine.

But your comment has NOTHING to do with the topic of this post.

Do you even know what that is, or do you just go around posting BOILERPLATE indiscriminately at every blog you can find?

We'd much prefer to talk WITH you, than to have you talk AT us.

Please try to respect our policies and preferences the next time you visit.

Those hypocritel Left-wingers always hated it whenever someone commented in any way about former President Barack Obama’s children. if you said anything about Sasha ot Malia you were called a racist or insensitive. Politician’s children were considered “off limits.” A Republican Congressional staffer even lost her job over such comments.

This Imbeciles over at Occupy Democrats are having a poll, asking "Should Donald Trump be Tried for Treason for having Tires to Russia?

John Podesta, The National Chairmen of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, may have opened himself up to a Russian “influence campaign” designed to temper his views of the Kremlin, The Daily Caller News Foundation (TheDCNF) Investigative Group has learned.

Influence campaigns are conducted by many governments — including the United States — with the aim of influencing decision makers in other countries to realign their geopolitical worldviews more closely to the influencing country.

Some national security experts interviewed by TheDCNF wonder if Podesta may still be a target of Russian influence. They trace the campaign back to his company board membership, in which one-third of the board were top Russian businessmen with direct ties to the Kremlin."Foreign governments do not conduct 'Influence' campaigns on individuals if they are trying to get them OUT of positions that could be / are beneficial to them. (Translation: The Russians would not have been trying to influence Podesta if they were trying to ensure Hillary would NOT be President.) If this is true, this pretty much proves the Russians were NOT actively trying to ensure Hillary lost the election.

Bill Clinton was working for Vlad's buddies, Ex-KGB, giving speeches for $50k a pop for them.

Tony Podesta, John's brother, was working for the KGB Bank and the Russian Spy agency that supposedly hacked the DNC's e-mails.

Hillary and the Clinton Foundation received donations from people who benefitted the Russian Uranium purchase she was connected to.And now we learn Tony Podesta was working for the Russians, that 1/3rd of his company's board members were top Russian businessmen with direct ties to the Kremlin...and he's Hillary's campaign manager!

You just can't get much more connected to/with the Russians than this...yet Democrats are insisting the investigation of TRUMP continues despite both the Director of the FBI and head of the NSA declaring before Congress that their 'incidental collections' on 'Team Trump' revealed NO FOREIGN INTEL VALUE, NO CRIME, NO FURTHER REASON TO INVESTIGATE?!

The Clintons and their 'circle' were either in-bed 9knowingly or not) with the Russians OR being played by them like a Stradivarius...

Apparently partisan politics rules the day. Whether one accepts the premise that Obamacare is a failure apparently it depends upon which side of the political divide you fall. If you had a health care plan before Obamacare and were happy enough with it why didn't you keep it? After all that is how the original program was sold. If you couldn't keep it and it was made illegal to keep it then the source of the coercion must be the source of the problem.

Why were people forced to accept a plan with which they today are unhappy? The people that benefited—do they outnumber the people who suffered a loss of their previous coverage?

Does a universal health care program run by a huge bureaucracy ultimately benefit anyone than some "insiders" who are part of the bureaucratic apparatus that award themselves unearned bonuses such as gold plated plans that are not available to the "outsiders"?

It's a huge problem and a huge diversion since it seems to depend on which side of the political divide in which you reside.

Waylon,Whether one accepts the premise that Obamacare is a failure apparently it depends upon which side of the political divide you fall.

Another factor: those with government-as-employer health insurance plans seem happy. It is those with individual health insurance plans who have been slammed. At least, that's how is seems to me as I consider my own situation and the situations of those I know.

Paul Ryan was supposed to be some super wonk master politician, and this is all he can come up with? Warmed over crap that expands government, stiffs the old and the poor and does nothing to encourage free market forces?

After staging eight years of masturbatory grandstanding with useless, hollow Obamacare repeal votes, this is all the GOOP can come up with???

The House vote is a nail-biter, and if it passes, it will probably die an ignominious death in the World's Gassiest and most Vapid Debating Society known as the US Senate.

I predict a loud crash followed by President Trump deploying flamethrowers, incendiary grenades and vituperative tweet swarms against his false friends in the GOP House and Senate.

I have felt all aiong that Ryan has been "The NIGGER in Mr. Trump's Woodpile." Pardon my French –– but frankly I don't give damn whether you do or not. ];^}>

Even so the ONLY Republicans in whom I feel any confdence at all is The Freedom Caucus. They really should form a new CONSERVATUVE-LIBERTARIAN Party, and disengage from the blasted RINOS once and for all.

There will NEVER be any "Joy in Mudville" as long as the GOP remains the fractured, foolish, miliitantly ineffectal entity it has become since Ronald Reagan left office –– and even before Reagan arrived.

Donald Trump knows very well that you can’t win ’em all, especially when you’re dealing with career politicians who are more interested in saving their own jobs, then making waves. So for the time being, the DemRats, along with Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pillousy, Schumer et al are gleeful, while the little people that they were SO interested in, will be the losers. Trump can’t wave a magic wand and get healthcare passed, he needs votes.! But as more and more companies drop out, and see their premiums go higher Trump will be vindicated and all the nay-sayers will be exposed for being so stubborn. Meanwhile Obamacare will continue to be catastrophic for a lot of people.

Although I was a Trump supporter., I was a former registered Democrat, and a Bernie supporter, and consider myself a progressive libertarian. This was the first election I ended up voting for the Republican party, but my choice was Trump. I simply could not vote for Hillary Clinton because of her mishandling of classified information, and stealing the nomination from the people’s choice Bernie Sanders.

HILLARY NEVER SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED IN THE FIRST PLACE. The first clue was when she was under FBI investigation, and the second clue was when she rigged the primary elections.So I voted ald Trump, and to tell you the truth, I am glad that I did. I think that Mr. Trump is our only hope to turn this country around into the right direction, and I’m looking forward for him to Make America great Again!

I may agree with your general sentiments, Mary Ann, but I cn't see how your c]mment relates to the crisis we've been living with over ridding gthe nation of the CURSE of OBAMACARE.

The Reoubkican faikure t unite behind a CONSERVATIVE agenda is one of the greatest disappointments we're having to put up with in the wake of Donald Trump's glorious triumph over Hillary Clinton –– a victory too many members his Mr. Trump's OWN party seem determned to neturalize and cast aside ASAP.

To all the schmuck progressive socialist democrats who are celebrating this "no vote" as a victory, when the hell are you going to put aside partisan party politics and do something for the American people?Don’t’ you idiotic fools realize that you still own obamacare? And you’re happy about that?Do you hear that Chucky, Nancy and you old Has-Been Crooked Hillary?And you really think that you “WON” something today?NO, Hillary America DIDN’T WIN TODAY! Americans Lost Today. Democrats who have nothing to offer still look pathetic.

Obamacare was signed into law in March 2010. If you recall, Nancy Pelosi’s Democratic majority in the House of Representatives was unable to pass their version of a healthcare law. Because all revenue bills have to originate in the House, the Senate found a bill that met those qualifications: , a military housing bill. They essentially stripped the bill of its original language and turned it into the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.

The Senate at that time had 60 Democrats, just enough to pass Obamacare. However after the bill passed the Senate, Democrat Senator Ted Kennedy died. In his place, Massachusetts elected Republican Scott Brown. That meant that if the House made any changes to the bill the Senate wouldn’t have the necessary number of votes to pass the amended bill (because they knew no Republicans would vote for Obamacare). So Senate Leader Harry Reid cut a deal with Pelosi: the House would pass the Senate bill without any changes if the Senate agreed to pass a separate bill by the House that made changes to the Senate version of Obamacare. This second bill was called the Reconciliation Act of 2010.. At this point the bill was ready for the President to sign, but the Senate still needed to pass the Reconciliation Act from the House.

Confused? So was I. We all were.

And it got worse.Remember when Obama had to twist arms, and pay off Senators to get Obamacare passed. He took them one by one into a closed room and promised them anything that they wanted. Remember when Nancy Pelosi said, "We Have to Pass the Bill So That You Can Find Out What Is In It"!Remember that the Senate only had 59 votes to pass the Reconciliation Act since Republican Scott Brown replaced Democrat Ted Kennedy. Therefore in order to pass the Act Senate Democrats decided to change the rules. They declared that they could use the “Reconciliation Rule (this is a different “reconciliation” than the House bill). This rule was only supposed to be used for budget item approvals so that such items could be passed with only 51 votes in the Senate, not the usual 60. Reconciliation was never intended to be used for legislation of the magnitude of Obamacare. But that didn’t stop them.

The great unwashed elect politicians who are happy to use the taxes that you and I pay to buy votes. That's how it works.. That’s How Obamacare Became Law.

Take it for what it's worth, but no Republican or Conservative, or even an Independent is buying the fact that any polls that are keeping Donald Trump at around the 38 - 40% Approval Rating. Especially after thst devastating landslide where he sent Hillary packing and back to hiding in the woods with big foot , and her bottle of Vodka!This is how we see it. Who in their right state of mind wants to be any part of a party that is led by the likes of Chuck Schumer, Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, Dick Durbin, Shelia Jackson, and thst creature from the bottom of the sea, Maxine Waters, and that dude who actually believes that Gaum will eventually tip over in the Spacific Ocean if too many overweight people all go visit the west end of the island.And when they take these polls, you have to wonder how many of them are working Americans and how many of them are either illegal aliens and lazy bums who refuse to get a job, yet very able bodied !

Trump has managed to turn a bunch of libtards from calling him "Hitler" to merely laughing at him. While they're busy laughing and patting themselves on the back, he's busy working on his next move. So score one for Trump!No, Donald Trump does not like to lose, Donald Trump is too smart for these losers who are trying their very best to derail him. And trust me whan I say that Donald Trump is much too smart for them. We're not dealing with people who are very smart, not at all... Smart people do not march around with ugly pink pussy hats on their heads. Trust me on this..

It was a shameful thing seein how many people actually were stupid enough to vote for Hillary. Could it be that having a female presu ment that much to those people? After a year-long investigation into Hillary Clinton’s personal server and emails, and Comey coming out to say they won’t recommend charges against her, we’re still hearing people trying to justify what Hillary did.

Powell and Rice both used personal emails, is one excuse, as if that makes Hillary’s conduct A-Okay. That’s just a poor excuse. We should really stop trying to justify one person’s unacceptable actions by another’s unacceptable actions.

And no one, I mean no one, should be exempt from the law and anyone in a top security position should never put our national security in jeopardy.

For the record, though, according to the FBI, neither Powell nor Rice had a personal server in their house—they both used government servers. Powell received two classified emails and apparently Rice didn’t receive any—her immediate staff, however, received ten.

Hillary had at least one hundred thirteen. And she claimed they weren’t classified at the time they were sent. FBI forensics found that one hundred ten of them were classified at the time of sending and they were included in the 30,000 emails Hillary turned over. But three others had been deleted. Forensics found and recovered them and they were also classified at the time of sending.

Is Hillary a liar or stupid, or both? I'd say both.

Either way, she was completely unqualified to be President of the United States.

We need integrity back in our political affairs. We need honest people. People with good character. And Hillary did not have any of those qualifications. To think that we could have had a President Hillary Clinton is frighy.

Other than movies and the Big Bang Thorioy and a few of the news shows like Hannity, I hardly watch TV, The two channels I like to watch reruns on constantly like Seinfeld, and one or two other shows have commercials for that filthy pig Samantha Bee. As far as I can tell, all her "jokes" are just nasty comments about Donald Trump and us people who voted for him. I'm all for holding the imbecile to the same standard they hold public people on "our" side to, so I don't have any desire to watch her or the flunkies on her show or even on her commercials where she actually think constantly screaming "Nazi" is funny. Screw Her and the donkey she rode in on .

This is how liberals deal with adversityWhen they lose, they stamp their feet, hold their breath, and kick and scream bloody murder. They howl with rage, they threaten the victors with death. This is what they do. This is what spoiled brat children do when they don't get what they want.

And these are the people who think they and they alone know how best to govern our country, to allocate our nation's precious resources to the benefit of the country on the aggregate?

I wouldn't trust these people to flip burgers at McDonald's. That would take responsibility, a work ethic, and a certain level of sanity. Imagine the assistant manager at Micky D's telling this stupid woman that she had to close, when she wanted to go hang out with her loser friends. She would erupt like a liberal volcano. These yelling maniacs will it accept the fact that the free ride is over.The conservative voices echos throughout this country and is now the country's boice in all three branches of government at the national level for the next two years at a minimum, and very probably the next four or eight years. Stamp your feet, yell and cry all you want, Donald Trump is the president for at least the next four years, and in all likelihood the next 8 years.

Get over it, you pathetic whiny losers. You had your way for the last 8 years (or the last 24 years, depending on your point of view), just savor the memories of those years, because they will be fading from the public scene to just a distant memory in a New York minute.

Some of his legacy is an ember, but not all of it. The biggest part of his legacy -- and least in his own eyes and those of the Progressives -- ObamaCare. It is still the law of the land, albeit being eroded by some of Trump's executive orders.

All right, AOW, but you above most should know that poetry rarely-if-ever is meant to be taken literally.

ALL presidents who have ever done anything that moved or changed the nation have cast a long, long shadow.

I don't think we will EVER get out from under the deep darkness, grim, ineffable dreariness, and painful consternation Abraham Lincoln cast over our land. The same is true of Wilson, FDR, LBJ, G.H.W. Bush, Clinton, G.W. Bush, and Obama.

When will we who purport to be on the Right RECOGNIZE, fully ACKNOWLEDGE and DEAL EFFECTIVELY WITH the profound SCHISM that occurred long ago in Republican Party?

The GOP is not ONE party at all. It is at least THREE –– i.e.

1. The RINO SELLOUTS.

2. The MOUSEY, MAUNDERING, MODERATES,

3. The legitimate CONSERVATIVE-LIBERTARIANS representing the ideals of the Founders expressed in the Constitution, espoused by the TEA PARTY, and best represented by the FREEDOM CAUCUS in House of Representatives?

There IS no GOP –– only a fractious, fractured assemblage of noncompops at war with President Trump and with each other.

The public elected Mr. TRUMP, who is decidedly a maverick, in the hope that his larger-than-life personality and booming show of self-confidence might be able to overcme the admittedly VILE status quo.

I for one believe it to be foolish to abandon that hope. The defeat of Paul Ryan's LOUSY bill means we have really dodged a bullet.

Had that stupid, ill-conceived bill gone through, we would have lost ALL HOPE of EVER ridding ourselves of the CURSE of OBAMACARE.

It is PAUL RYAN –– and all the represents of whom we need to rid ourselves now.

Paul Ryan is obviously all too eager to play Mark Antony to Donald Trump's Julius Caesar.

If the case is that the only legitimate conservative Republicans are the Freedom Caucus guys, that would make conservative Republicanism a pretty small political minority, with more folks strongly disliking them than the other way around. The GOP has moved WAY over to the right in recent decades. But the country is, and inexorably, moving left on most issues. I would strongly advise the GOP to move back to the center a bit, or they will be back in the political wilderness pretty soon. This gerrymandered "majority" of theirs isn't going to keep them in power forever, and the more they pretend to possess such a strong majority, the more they will make unpopular decisions, and the faster they will be back in the minority, where by all the numbers they already belong.

Well, I'm starting to think it is getting to the point of 'business as usual'. President Trump seems to have let opportunity to be somebody different slip by. This latest "replace ObamaCare" is another good example of politics as usual with all the political lifers going through the motions of pretending to be so opposed to something to the point of getting nothing done,and everything remains status quo.

That's hardly the platform that Trump was elected on. But if the ObamaCare is as bad as it's portrayed by the opposition, and it's "collapsing" then I think by supposedly letting it collapse then it will be easier to replace. But if it survives and can't be replaced then they'll look pretty stupid.

Trump has fill his administration with too many retreads not the least is the war-monger Mike Pence.

FT,There IS no GOP –– only a fractious, fractured assemblage of noncompops at war with President Trump and with each other....

As I said in response to that at my own blog...

Long before Trump, the GOP became a mishmash of those who (1) believe that the Democratic Party has moved too far left, (2) are of the George H.W. Bush New World Order variety, (3) know that they cannot win elections in their region if they identify as Dem, and (4) true Conservatives.

Had that stupid, ill-conceived bill gone through, we would have lost ALL HOPE of EVER ridding ourselves of the CURSE of OBAMACARE.

I agree. But I'm not sure that we can ever fully be rid of ObamaCare -- unless the entire thing collapses. Once an entitlement is granted, the people will not rid themselves of that entitlement. The principle of boiling the frog.

IMO, ObamaCare was never the intended end, but rather a means to something else: socialized medicine (single payer).

What is driving more and more Americans to be willing to accept ObamaCare? The costs of healthcare! Not only the cost of premiums but also the cost of the healthcare services themselves. As things now stand, few people can actually afford to self-pay.

The biggest omission in the drafting of the Affordable Care Act is that it did not address the true challenge facing all Americans – the escalating cost of health care. While health care was once unaffordable for a small portion of the population, it is now getting to be unaffordable for virtually every American.

Can the clock be turned back, given the state-of-the-art medical care today?

As one who had sight-restoring retinal surgery a few years ago, I have great regard for state-of-the-art medical care. Just a few years before I had that surgery, such a surgery with a record of 95% excellent outcomes was impossible.

AoW, sorry to hear bout the kidneys. Touchy things they can be! I hope you doing okay!

To control costs and make healthcare affordable, it would seem to me the best plan would be for all Americans to pool our money for something we all need and have one American insurance pool. We could contract out things like claims adjustments and fraud investigations and such, as they do in many countries, but with one pool we'd have the leverage and the risk-dispersal we'd need to get better outcomes at more reasonable costs. As it is now, Americans are paying up to double what any other developed nation's people are paying and our outcomes are mediocre at best. The "system" we have now is a proven failure.

This kidney pain is terrible, but the scans show nothing to fix. In a month, the urologist/surgeon and I are going to have a conference to discuss options. I suspect that I'm headed for removal of this painful left kidney. Just what I don't need: another surgery!

One problem with the American insurance pool is our aging population. When the Boomers were young and healthy, the pool was in good shape. Not now -- now that the Boomers are aging and, in many cases, ailing.

The boomers won't live forever. There will always be spikes in population once in a while. There's a minor wave moving through about school-age now. Once the Boomers age away, the costs will go down. We just have to be prepared for things like this. This was foreseeable and we can manage it. We just need real political courage, as opposed to the easy politics of distraction, of scapegoating, ideological sophistry, or chest-thumping, to pay for it.

You are correct, of curse, Thersites, but I will not oermit ANY remark made by Miss Piss Pot to remain at my blog.

I'm sorry I can't be here every minute of every day to strike down offensive and merely idiotic offerings, so occasionally some unflushed excrement remains in the bowl long enough to befoul the atmosphere.

Well, Romney was kind of reluctant about it at the time, if we recall. The "mandate" was indeed popular in some conservative thinking going back to the early 90's, this in response to some early liberal efforts in the states, like in Vermont, to move toward universal coverage of some kind. The all-private "marketplaces" were also a conservative idea, though more of a concession.

Appearing on the network, Napolitano said “three intelligence sources have informed Fox News that President Obama went outside the chain of command. He didn’t use the NSA, he didn’t use the CIA, he didn’t use the FBI, and he didn’t use the Department of Justice… He used GCHQ” to monitor Donald Trump during the 2016 election.

Once again. it appears that Trump may have been right, again.And that the allegation that Trump was being wiretapped by president Obama before the election, may have been “right on” Now they want to Shoot The Messenger, the House Intelligence Chairman, Devin Nunes, told reporters that the U.S. intelligence community incidentally collected information on members of President Trump's transition team, possibly including Trump himself, and the information was "widely disseminated" in intelligence reports.So how are they responding? Instead of the stupid Chuck Schumer, Nutsie Peliosi and absurd blather Democrats going forward and investigating his findings, they’d rather Shoot The Messenger. ! These keystone Cops should be replaced with a few circus chimpanzees, their work would be just as effective, but we could enjoy some laughs in between episodes of the Three Stooges shooting themselves in their legs with cannons...

Nunes told a news conference “that the communications appear to be picked up through incidental collection" and do not appear to be related to the ongoing FBI investigation into Trump associates' contacts with Russia. He says he believes the intelligence collections were done legally, although in light of the dramatic change in the plot it may be prudent to reserve judgment on how "incidental" it was. Also Nunes’ information not only validates what President Trump tweeted out three weeks ago.

It also exposes the Obama Administration’s disregard for America’s civil liberties of citizens and the rule of law.It also show that you shouldn’t demand proof unless you are prepared for what that proof might reveal. And that you are prepared to deal with it And yes, naturally, they are nowng the messenger. As Ch cky Boy Schumer, the wonder of the Liberals is now asking Chairman, Devin Nunes to “Step Down”! Did he ask that of his Goddess Hillary Klintoon, when she was up to her ears with FBI Investigations, and scandals after scandals?How Dare Nunes Prove Trump Right!

And silly me, I thought that the goal was to get to the truth!

But they don’t want the truth.

The goal is the same as it has always been: destroy Donald Trump’s presidency while preserving Barack Obama’s “legacy.”

I think yiu're probably correct, Joan, but w're not talking about Devin Nunes right now. We're talking about PAUL RYAN'S role in engineering the DEFEAT of the GOP cancellation and replacement of OBAMACARE and OTHER factors that may or may not haves led to this most recent CONGRESSIONAL FIASCO.

Please, please PLEASE address the TPIC when you cime hyper, Joan.

But I agree we SHOULD be addressing the DemonRat ATTACK on Devin Nunes very soon.

C alling the DemonRats NAMES, however, is not an effective method of combatting the outright wickedness of their leaders and the incredible opacity and gullibility of their followers.

Those cartoons in your post are really brilliant, FreeThinke. I can't undersand why no one even mentioned them before. They certainly show just what the Republicans are doing to themselves and to our country with their inability to get their act together.

The Liberals have managed to change their tactics from calling Donald Trump "Hitler" to charging him with being a Russian Secret Agent. . While they're busy patting themselves on the back, he's busy working on his next move. The radical left wing has allied with fanatic thugs and are raising havoc in our streets. It wasn’t enough to protest and riot in the streets, now they are beating up Trump supporter just for wearing A Trump Baseball cap or having a Trump sign on our lawns.A 21-year-old student who supports President Donald Trump was beaten up on the University of California, Berkeley campus he was wearing a ‘‘Make America Great Again’’ cap and on his way to class when a SUV slammed to a stop and two young men ran toward him and beat him up..Being attacked by these cowards and punks, reminds me of watching those newsreels from the second world war when I was a kid I'm glad I live in a area where this crap doesn't happen because I would deal with it. If I lived in an area like that I'd make national headlines for starting a war. The little snowflakes wouldn't know how to deal with a person who would fight back maybe I’d get my ass whipped maybe even killed but I'd take a lot of those punks, and thugs with me.

This is nothing more than a form of verbal psychological abuse and headline grabbing. First they verbally abuse you, calling you names like Hitler’s or Brown Shirts, and accuse you of lying, and cheating, and then they tell you it's all your fault, and finally they tell you you’re nuts because you didn’t vote for the Crooked, Lying, Cheating candidate that they offered. No, it's not your fault and you're not nuts. Don't fall for it. If that means your “Nuts”, then be proud of being Nuts!

The left is worried that they'll lose all their FREE goodies. Free abortion to stop the heart beat of their very own child, free drugs, free food stamps, free hospitalization, free cell-phones, and running around naked if they want. And lets not forget the right to urinate in the streets!

We're not dealing with people who are very smart. Smart people do not march around with those stupid looking pink pussy hats on their heads. Trust me on that.

When was the last time you heard of a Hillary supporter being beaten or harmed? You haven't. It didn’t happen because us Deplorable’s just don’t do things like that. Nor do we Riot, or Burn down buildings, Loot, Steal, and Destroy stores, and Property. and we don’t ever, never parade around wearing those idiotic “Pink Pussy Hats” And you can lay odds that if it happened every Lame-stream media outlets in the country would make it a front news story for weeks

Trump Calls For Investigation Into The Clintons' Russian Ties, and Connections, It's time and long over due. This is a great step in making America great again. The Clintons' are on par with Julious and Ethel Rosenberg, traitorous people, who sold our atomic bomb secrets to the Soviets putting our nation in peril ever since. What the Clintons have done to this once great nation has been totally unAmerican. Let's get behind our new glorious leader and help make this Investigation happen. Lets not forget that BJ Billy got paid $500,000 for a speech by the Russians while Hillary was Sec of State

As Conservatives, we can’t be so consumed with looking for the next Jesus Christ to be our candidate of choice or our last November Donald J. Trump our nominee won the election and Crooked Hillary Clinton didn't. We as Conservatives must trust our elected President and not fall for the crapola that these Liberals "Progressives" are trying to get away with. We stuck it out for 8 MISERABLE years and now it's their turn to either suck it up or not.Either way, we must not give a crap.

Once again that Bobble head Chuckie Schumer proved that he is a Bobble Head! As he attacked an unsuspecting couple with an outrageous anti-Trump rant.But that doesn't stop the echo chamber from declaring it so. Or the spin masters from spinning a story.

Their confirmation bias is on full display.Bottom line: I don't like Chuck Schumer.Many of us on the right don't like Chuck Schumer.Is Chuck Schumer a jerk?Yes.However, everyone is reporting today that he confronted Joseph Califano, former US secretary of health, education and welfare under President Jimmy Carter and domestic policy adviser to President Lyndon B. Johnson, and his wife Hilary in a restaurant and caused a scene.

Two completely opposite stories have emerged.

Number One Story: Schumer lost his marbles in the restaurant and caused a huge scene screaming and ranting at Califano's wife who reportedly voted for Trump.

Number Two Story: The Califano's stopped by the Schumer table, had a nice chat, and they all proceeded to leave at the same time. Once outside, Schumer accused Trump of being a liar, which Hilary Califano considered a bit rude.

Which story is true?Who the hell knows, and more important, who the hell cares? But that didn't stop the headlines from emerging from the Depths of bias. Did it ?

We've established that lots of people don't like Schumer and want, with every fiber of their being, for Schumer to have gone bat cray in public.

It appears this "story" started on the Page Six site with their "exclusive" report on this story. Yeah, right - Page Six is on the top of my list for insightful reporting.

May I remind you at this point of my motto? Sure I can, 'cause this is my page and I can say whatever I want. The only thing that ever stops me is my wife who gets mad as hell over my being too honest in public, but that too may be coming to a screeching halt, as she is also getting as mad as hell as I am.

Over the past few weeks it has become increasingly difficult to take anything at all that the Liberals say seriously .

Stories of this kind are worthless in advancing a positive political agenda for the good of the country. They do nothing to promote anything at all but further anger, resentment, mockery, and loss of morale.

Most of us Conservative-Libertarians are much too aware of the character and disposition of the ignoble Senator from New York, but he is The People's Choice in New York City, and as such we have to accept his presence in the U.S. Senate no matter how odious and objectionable his performance may be.

The only way to combat people of his ilk effectively is to OUTHINK them and OUTPERFORM them.

Trying merely to OUTSHOUT them only brings decent people down to THEIR abysmal level.

Mockery and endless complaint is not helpful to ANYONE'S cause, although it is much easier to do than the hard work of promoting POSITIVE, CONSTRUCTIVE ideas that at least have a chance to make this world a better place.

We know all too well what we should NOT do, but have we spent enough time thinking, studying, planning and educating ourselves to know with any degree of certainty what we OUGHT to do?

Gratuitous Displays of Extraneous Knowledge Offered Not To Shed Light Or Enhance the Discussion, But For The Primary Purpose Of Giving An Impression Of Superiority are obnoxiously SELF-AGGRANDIZING, and therefore, Subject to Removal at the Discretion of the Censor-in-Residence.